1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a navigation system, and more particularly, to a navigation system capable of utilizing information retrieved from external resources such as home pages on the Internet and e-mails for its navigation function.
2. Description of the Related Art
A navigation system has widely been put to practical use in which the system guides a driver during driving a route extending from the current position of his vehicle to the destination. This navigation system has functions to display maps neighboring the vehicle on its monitor as the vehicle travels, or to specify an arbitrary point to display a map surrounding thereof. Recently, a navigation system has been generally known in which the system has functions to browse the contents of home pages on the Internet and to send and receive e-mails by connecting the system to the Internet via a mobile telephone. This assists a driver to determine whichever destination should be selected with reference to information on facilities and resorts retrieved from home pages on the Internet. Furthermore, a method has also been proposed involving extraction of character information (latitude and longitude, address, ZIP code, and telephone number, etc.) devoted to specifying a location of a facility or the like based on a displayed home page, and utilization of information for navigating functions such as destination setting and map display.
A conventional navigation system includes connecting means for connecting with a computer network; browsing means for browsing information sent through the computer network; extracting means for extracting character information specifying a location among the information sent through the computer network; and retrieving means for retrieving position information corresponding to the character information from the character information dedicated to specifying a location extracted by the extracting means. For instance, JP, 2000-337911, A (Paragraph Number 0015)
However, the conventional navigation system utilizes information on a point, but fails to do other additional information (times, charges, etc.) on the point even though home pages on the Internet provide various information on the point. Therefore, a driver is denied an access to the information on the point even if a driver reached the point, for the reason that a facility being set as the destination are already out of business hours, and charges exceed a driver's budget.